BR killings up in first 6 months

• By KIMBERLY VETTER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jul 4, 2009 - Page: 1B

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The number of people killed in Baton Rouge during the first six months of the year reached 37 Monday with the discovery of Temeka Watts’ body behind a wooden shed on Winbourne Avenue.

That total is 48 percent higher than the 25 people killed  in Baton Rouge during the same period last year, according to statistics complied by The Advocate.

The number of people killed in East Baton Rouge Parish between January and June, compared with the same time frame last year, also increased but not as much.

Parishwide, 39 people were slain during the first six months of the year compared with 34 people during the first six months of 2008.

Officers with the Baton Rouge Police Department worked 37 of the 39 homicides while deputies with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the other two cases.

Baton Rouge police spokesman Sgt. Don Kelly said he could discuss only those killings occurring during the first five months of the year because the Police Department has not released June homicide statistics.

“The vast majority of murders this year are still isolated, standalone crimes,” Kelly said, meaning such killings lack connections to the same people, places or motives. And, similar to years past, most of this year’s homicide victims were killed by someone they knew, he said.

One known exception was Jerome Boston, 44, a Baton Rouge man who was hit in the neck by a stray bullet while sitting in his St. Gerard Avenue bedroom watching television. Kelly said it is believed Boston was not the intended target.

Preventing murder is difficult because it is a crime that usually is a spontaneous act, Kelly said, but police often react to violent incidents caused by retaliation and ongoing feuds by beefing up patrols in targeted areas.

Police Chief Jeff LeDuff also is using specialized units in concert with regular patrols and crime statistics to focus on areas of the city where violent crimes are more likely to occur, Kelly said.

Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said he uses similar tactics, citing them as being responsible for a 77 percent decrease in the number of killings his office worked during the first six months of this year.

Deputies worked two slayings between January and June compared with nine during the same period in 2008.

Gautreaux said the decrease is the result of partnering with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies as well as creating a homicide unit.